The familiar clashing of swords, especially his against Norrington's, provided rousing music to Jack's ears. He more or less swatted against the superior swordsman, keeping an eye out for the key. The narrow, crumbling stairs twisted the higher they went, leading out to a stone ledge overlooking the beach. Too busy blocking the long, practiced maneuvers Norrington threw at him, Jack cursed at not being able to tell if William was catching up to them.
Growing short of breath, he took hold of the pull attached to the brass bell. His stomach lurched when it dropped him to the bottom of the stairwell and lifted William right up to Norrington.
"By your leave, Mr. Norrington!" he heard Will say.
Rushing back up the steps, he peered out onto the ledge to see the two of them leap and lunge their weapons at each other with all the grace of ballroom dancers. Bugger. Why couldn't Pintel and Ragetti have taken the key so he could just shoot them and be done with this whole dance? Frowning at the rooftop the men backed themselves out on, it took all his concentration to balance himself on it, focusing on the large mill wheel to steady himself.
Well, someone within the gates of Heaven liked him because Norrington was closest to him and held the key in his free fist. Not smart, Commodore. Not smart at all. As soon as he swiped the key, Norrington and Will noticed him, cornering him like a pair of wolves and sent his sword flinging to the ground.
"Do excuse me while I kill the man who ruined my life," Norrington growled, sword ready.
Think, Jack. Think of something.
"Be my guest."
Don't think about what Will just said, think about what you're going to say, he scolded himself, erasing his dirty look at Will.
"Let's examine that claim for a moment, shall we?" he tried. Ah, yes. That would work nicely. "Who was it, who, at the very moment you had a notorious pirate behind bars, saw fit to free said pirate and take your dearly beloved all to his self? Hey? So whose fault is it really that you've ended up a rum-pot deckhand what takes orders from pirates?"
"Enough!" With just enough time to see Will's eyebrow rise in suspicion and fear, Jack somersaulted down to the ground. Picking up his sword, he positioned the key over his head like a necklace and dusted himself off, not noticing the open grave right in front of him.
"Oh." Death looked less and less pleasant to him. There wasn't much of a view, anyway.
XXX
It took the better part of a minute for Jack to secure his footing after falling out of that wheel, Norrington and William still atop it, battling it out. He wondered whether they knew he now had the key. He wondered where the chest now was, guessing it was no longer resting by its lonesome on the beach. Not too far away, an orangey flash of light caught his eye. One of Jones' oyster-like beasts laughing his way back to the Dutchman with the chest in his arms.
One could remedy that, Jack thought, picking up a coconut and hurling it right into the thing's head.
He ran over to the chest, setting it back in its upright position and gathering up the key. The centered heart seemed to jerk into a crab at the click of the lock. Eyes wide, Jack lifted the lid and saw a beating heart, no larger or smaller than the one in his own body, in anyone's body. At last. Stuffing it into his shirt, he made the long dash back to the beach.
He remembered the beach being more massive than it was now, the tide rushing over the white sand and dragging it back to the depths with it. The longboat they came in now wafted in ever-rising waters. The first one back, he blocked out where everyone else could be, rifling through the longboat for his jar. To think, not long ago, he saw no reason in the world to let Tia Dalma live and now he could have kissed those grimy teeth. Emptying handfuls of dirt into the boat, he lodged the heart inside the jar. Scooping up the contents he had just poured out, he secured the lid just as he heard sounds of combat behind him.
Elizabeth, Pintel, and Ragetti, tossing two swords back and forth between them, skidded into the rising water. More than half a dozen assorted crewmen that once looked human followed them. Picking up an oar, Jack high-stepped over the water, clouding from its merge with the sand to where they were. From the corner of his eye as he whacked one of the monsters in the neck, the mill wheel rolled into the water and gave a couple of spasms before collapsing.
Another one of the creatures ganging up on him, Jack fought it off, jabbing it in the gut and knocking its feet out from under it. Off just before the horizon line, the Pearl waited for them, anchored. Blast it, Gibbs, get over here! Turning around to count how many of these things were left, he spotted Will leaning over the longboat, the back of his head looming above the chest…and the jar.
With no time to trick or negotiate, Jack positioned his oar like a cricket bat and smacked it into Will's face. His body reeled into the boat with a thud. Sorry, dear William, he thought, but best not worry your swollen, aching head with heart matters.
"Leave him lie! Unless you plan on using him to hit something with," he said when Elizabeth and Norrington toppled over to the boat. The two spun back around them, facing the cursed crewmen. Pintel and Ragetti soon followed. The crewmen could not back them into the boat any further and one could only bang an oar into an undead thing's body so many times.
"We're not getting out of this," Elizabeth said, biting her lip, punishing her body until her brain came up with a plan.
"Not with the chest. Into the boat." Norrington picked up the chest and tucked it under his arm. Jack said nothing, heart pounding at the convenience of it. What better diversion than the chest itself? God speed, James Norrington. May we never meet again.
"You're mad!" Elizabeth screamed at him.
"Don't wait for me!" Norrington shouted, sprinting off through the beach back into the luscious middle of the island.
"I say we respect his final wish," Jack said, pushing the boat further into the water when the last of the crewmen ran after Norrington.
"Aye!" Pintel grunted, throwing himself into the boat.
"The oar!" Elizabeth bent down and lifted the second oar from under the water, its level now up to her middle. Handing it off to Ragetti, she scrambled into the longboat and pulled Will over to her, pushing his legs back to make room for everyone else. "Why did you give the order to have the Pearl so far out?" she barked at him.
"How was I to know Will would come and lure the entire Dutchman crew out to us?" Jack argued, taking the oars and rowing them out to the Pearl, every muscle in his upper body throbbing at the speed of it. "Don't touch that!" he ordered to Pintel, who was picking up the jar. "And don't drop it. Now, as carefully as those clumsy hands can, lay that back down." It was certainly a pathetic sight—Elizabeth and Pintel on one side of the longboat with William splattered over them, Ragetti in the middle whimpering, and Captain Jack Sparrow, captain of the legendary Black Pearl doing the rowing.
XXX
"My prayers be with him," Gibbs said quickly after Jack broke the news the Commodore lapsed into madness, carrying off a chest Jack knew to be empty. "Best not wallow in our grief," he said with a different tone. "The bright side is you're back and made it off free and clear."
Before Jack could answer, the Flying Dutchman burst through the water, an array of beady eyed creatures ogling the Pearl. Clinging to the jar, Jack avoided the instinct to reach for his pistol. There was no use shooting a man whose heart beat outside his body. He heard Gibbs breathe an exclamation that bordered on blasphemy.
"I'll handle this, mate." He swaggered to the edge of the ship, making sure his confident smirk lingered. "Hey, fishface! Lose something, eh?" About to conjure up as many insults as he could, he let his concentration on his stride lapse. With a primal release of surprise, he toppled down the steps, one by one, bumping his elbows, his hips, his knees. Wasn't this first time, he thought, damning his brain at the same time. But it was the first time in front of Davy Jones, who had narrowed his eyes at the display. "Got it!" Jack called, clutching the jar. Oh, how it would all be worth it to pull out the heart and wield it to call off his debt. "Come to negotiate, have ye, ye slimy git? Look what I got." Too rich, he thought. He sang in a taunting voice, holding the jar above his head.
In response, the Dutchman's guns positioned themselves right at the broadside of the Pearl.
"Hard to starboard!"
Elizabeth, Will, and Gibbs' voices echoed his own, the four of them scrambling to different sections of the Pearl, all racing to preserve her. Jack's ears rang with an agonizing intensity at the crunch of fire blasting through his cabin. Well, the jar wasn't in his cabin, he thought, shrugging it off before steering the ship further away, letting her sails catch the wind.
He didn't turn back to see the Dutchman fall behind, her fire fading in the distance. The cheers of his crew were enough. Letting a small smile creep up on his face, he felt a presence behind him.
"My father is on that ship," Will said, his eyes boring into Jack's. Pity, he thought. He had neither expected nor wished William to be the one at his side nagging him about strategies to adopt in the near-future. Did he think he was a simpleton? That he was just an ungrateful sot what forgot the few people who remained loyal to him? He'd save Bill, first thing after he called off his own debt. What should the third thing be? Oh, he did promise William he would force Jones to force Beckett to leave him and Lizzie be. Maybe he would throw in a ship for each of them. "If we can outrun her, we can take her. We should turn and fight."
"Why fight when you can negotiate?" He tapped the jar, savoring the bewildered expression on Will's face. Ah, William. You put so much effort into things which are really quite simple. About to pick up the jar, the ship jarred, shattering the jar the second it hit the deck.
He couldn't remember the last time his eyes went so wide. Scampering over to it, he circled his arms in a frenzy over the spilled sand. Each grain appeared white against the black wood planks. His breathing shortened. Gone. Gone. "Where is it? Where is the thump-thump?" The poets who described panic, who described the very loss of their senses had it all wrong. When you go mad, you can't very well compose any poetry. Gone, gone, gone—the only word that his mind retained. He heard a few voices speculate that the ship hit a reef. No. No, they didn't hit a reef. In an instant, the only word his mind retained transformed into "leave." Leave.
XXX
"Thank you, Jack."
If anyone was to witness him bidding the Pearl farewell, he was glad it was Lizzie, soaked to the bone and with more than a hint of pain in her own eyes.
"We're not free yet, love." He could see it, the kraken tearing the longboat with all of them in it to shreds, leaving a mass of splinters to be swept away by the current. Gulping, his hands shook at the idea of staying behind and letting them go. A good man would stay behind. He bit his lip, wondering if Teague would stay behind.
"You came back," she said, trembling her way towards him. "I always knew you were a good man."
There was that faith, that faith in him that made him come back, that made him consider going down with the ship like he should. For that split second, her eyes were like how they were when they locked in on his on the Dauntless, tempted to invite him in and yet so afraid to let go of everything else. Trapped by them, he froze, a dizzying feeling prodding him that if he said nothing now, he would never be able to say it. Even if William lurked behind him and cut his throat—none of it mattered. I came back because of you, and I don't care if you don't love me. I love you, Elizabeth, and I've been loving you. Vedo l'altra metà della mia anima in voi.
The inner rehearsal evaporated out of his head at the sensation of her kiss, her hands grazing the back of his neck before cleaving onto him. They slid down his arms to his wrists, her fingertips kneading into them. Paralyzed by them, he could only turn his head and let his eyes roll back into it. Their mouths opened, deepening their kiss. Energized by it, Jack's hand traced the side of her hip up to her waist and just under her chest. The last time he had her so close, he didn't even know who she was or what treasures lay hidden underneath the layers and layers keeping her under the water. Now he could savor the slight curves, let his lips take in the softness of hers. Feeling the rush of a cold wind against them when she broke away from him, he shivered at the cold metal chained to his hand.
Still unable to speak, he grinned. It was all true, everything he guessed about her.
"It's after you, not the ship," she hissed, her eyes brimming with tears. "This is the only way, don't you see? It's not us."
Her eyes closed and she leaned in, the tip of her chin brushing against his. Peccato dalle mie labbra? O la trasgressione ha sollecitato dolce! Diami il mio peccato ancora.
"I'm not sorry," Elizabeth said, clamping her lips shut and yet still kissing him with her eyes. Oh, Lizzie, I'm not sorry either.
"Pirate," Jack managed to say, giving her that look he always gave her when he wanted to make sure she knew exactly what he meant. Still lost in her eyes, he begged them to respond, to tell him those three words that would make everything she had just done forgivable. At this point, he would plead for just another kiss, just another memory of her touch on his lips, his shoulders, his hands. Bloody hell, Lizzie, I love you. See that. Know that. I'll make this easy for you. Tell me you love me now and I'll go down with the ship. I'll go down the good man you want me to be. Shaking her head, a sorrowful resolve overcame her and she turned her back to him, hustling to the longboat. It was the last one on the ship. With each step she took until she was out his line of sight, the same fact chanted in his mind over and over.
You're going to die.
"Bugger, bugger, bugger…" Still dazed, he tugged at his chain, expecting it to break at his tugging. Why wasn't it breaking? Because it's a chain, now wake up!
You're going to die.
Well, Lizzie had put on a good show, leaving him here, probably telling the others he decided to be a good man and inform her to leave without him while he went down with the Pearl. Well, he would just surprise them all, wouldn't he? He unsheathed his sword and reached for the lantern, just one item among many strewn about the deck. Ship of death.
Smashing it against the mast, the oil drizzled down onto his wrist. Knowing his luck today, his wrist would swell, he thought, but he managed to wriggle it through until it was free. It ached from the shackle, but Jack only stretched his fingers out once. There was still time. There was still time to jump overboard and swim for the longboat. Then, Lizzie, you'll be sorry. You'll just have to tell the others you love me then. Your face will give it all away when they pull me up into the boat and say how they'd thought they'd seen the end of me.
All alone, he wondered suddenly why he felt he was being watched.
Behind him, the pink wet mass that served as the kraken's mouth waited for him, each tooth lubricated with a filmy slime. In the center, a deep black hole caught his eye, expanding by the second. It waited only a moment before spewing its fluids onto him, soaking his face, his neck, his hair. The only protection he had was his closed eyes. It seemed to shift its weight after it finished, probably just taking a breath, he thought.
"Not so bad," he said to himself before spotting a black mass on the deck. It was his hat, still in one piece and still his symbol of authority. The captain of a doomed ship is still a captain now, isn't it, monster? He ignored the massive gray tentacles curling up over the deck. Clearing away the sticky liquid from his hat, he placed it on his head.
"Hello, beastie," Jack said, sword ready. The hole in front of him grew until darkness surrounded him. Still half-believing he was in the middle of some dream, he dubbed the hole the Gateway Where Adventure Meets Legend and prepared himself for whatever would meet him on the other end.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible from this chapter. It was one of the more difficult ones. All of the upcoming chapters took a long, long time to write, even get in the mood to write since a lot of intense stuff goes down in them. Special thanks to jacky sparrow from the KMC forum who sent me the link to the script for AWE. That will come into play later. There is a lot of Italian in this chapter. The first bit roughly translates to, "I see the other half of my soul in you." The longer passage in Italian is from Romeo and Juliet and translates to, "Sin from my lips! O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again." Oh, and since I've written a freakin' novel here, I might as well state once again that I don't own POTC.